JÚLIUS FILO
EVANJELICKÁ BOHOSLOVECKÁ FAKULTAUNIVERZITA KOMENSKÉHO V BRATISLAVE
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL FACULTYCOMENIUS UNIVERSITY BRATISLAVA
PASTORAL SERVICE: A PART OF THE DIVINE MISSION
Abstract: The basic premise of this study is the missiological position that the mission of the church
is the work of the triune God. The church with its programs is an instrument of God‘s action in the
world. In doing so, pastoral ministry is one of the most important expressions of missional ministry,
since its personal quality permeates and integrates many ministries within the community of the
church as well as those that are directed to God‘s beloved world of people. The actual research
aim of this study is to explore and present how pastoral ministry becomes a personally addressing
and contextually active instrument of God‘s mission. The study draws on missiological positions
and pastoral-theological principles, but seeks to suggest concrete ways of implementing pastoral
ministry alongside people in a variety of situations. The study leads to the observation that pastoral
ministry calls for a differentiated approach to the human person in a variety of situations. The need
for a differentiated approach in terms of the content and form of ministry is presented in the study
by a few selected examples.
Keywords: mission; mission of God; pastoral ministry; differentiated approach; pastoral support
for young people; stages of confrontation with death; participation of the ordained and the nonordained;
pastoral programme of the congregation
THEOLOGICAL REVIEW, Vol. 92, 2021, No. 4, Number of Article 6, p. 495 – 504.
DOI: 10.14712/12117617.92.4.6